I have already released my top 10 business book recommendations and could have easily added another ten. Regarding personal finance, I could only come up with five, and two could be considered just finance books. The fundamentals of personal finance are simple, which doesn’t make them easy, but it makes it challenging to write an engaging book that readers will follow. There is no quick fix to personal finance. There are no trendy methods or shortcuts. You must do the work by earning more money, spending less than you earn, and investing the difference. And it takes time. You must put it on autopilot for at least 20 years or be actively engaged for 10. There are no repeatable shortcuts that books can teach you.
I haven’t found a comprehensive book on this subject, so you will have to read more than one of these to round out your understanding. I’ve actually started to write my own book, which I hope to release in 2025 because I just don’t love any one book for Medical Professionals interested in this topic.
1. Set For Life by Scott Trench
Scott Trench is famous in the personal finance and real estate worlds for being the host of the Bigger Pocket’s Money Podcast and the CEO of Bigger Pockets. He also plays rugby, which makes him all right in my mind. He wrote Set For Life, a book that I don’t actually own, despite having purchased multiple copies. This is my go-to present for high school or college graduates not in the medical field (along with some money to get them started).
This book is specifically designed for an average young American trying to get to early financial independence. Trench promotes hard work, side hustles, and making concentrated bets on real estate in order to achieve FI in a stepwise fashion. He has some non-traditional views on foregoing retirement account investing early in your career, which is why I don’t recommend this book to medical professionals with an above-average income. However, if you or someone you know meets his target demographic, this book contains a repeatable blueprint to get ahead and become set for life.
Linked here.
2. A Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins
The title says it all. JL Collins wrote a series of blog posts to his daughter outlining a simple path to wealth for those uninterested in the minutiae of finance and investing. These posts were consolidated into a book that has become legendary in the personal finance community. And with good reason. Collin’s prose is clear and concise so that everyone can understand it. Additionally, the principles are sound, and the method is so easy and repeatable that anyone can follow it. It truly is the simple path to wealth.
In fact, the book is so simple that I can summarize it in a few sentences. First, automate your investment contributions so you don’t have to think about it. Next, invest as early, as much, and as often as you can into the following: 75% VTSAX (a total stock market index fund) and 25% VBTLX (a total bond market index). Finally, stop thinking, don’t touch anything, and you will be wealthy in 30 years (or less). The beauty of this book is in its simplicity and accessibility. It takes the basics of stock and bond investment and makes them easy to understand—a must-read for all personal finance newbies.
Linked here.
3. A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Makiel
This book was required for my MBA program. I’ve read it several times since, and it has become my favorite finance book. It covers all the basics – how stocks and bonds work, their history and performance, stock market analysis, modern portfolio theory, and the relationship between risk and return. It introduces behavioral finance, portfolio construction, and more. This book truly has it all. However, it is not for everyone. The book is dense and is not the easiest read. A similar and similarly famous book, Stocks for the Long Run by Jeremy Siegel is probably more accessible for the average reader.
Linked here.
4. The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
The number one rule as an ER doctor is to not panic. Ever. You have to keep your head even when everyone else is losing theirs. The same can be said for investing. Human brains have predictable patterns, errors, and biases that only get worse when under pressure. Learning everything about personal finance and investing doesn’t do much good if your brain won’t let you implement it. While A Random Walk Down Wall Street does an excellent job introducing behavioral finance, Housel’s book runs with the topic and makes it more digestible for the masses. This is such an important topic that I had to include this book on my list despite not loving it as much as everyone else seems to.
Linked here.
5. Corporate Finance 12th Edition Ross, Westerfield, Jaffe, Jordan
Fair warning- this is a textbook. A holdover from my MBA days, this textbook gives you all the basics of Corporate Finance. Want to analyze a public company before buying its stock? Want to invest in a private company? Want to start your own business? You need to know what’s in this book. From reading financial statements, determining valuations, and predicting cash flows, to assessing capital structure, taxes, and long & short-term financing, this book covers all the basics of corporate finance. This textbook is entry-level enough that any medical professional can understand it, yet it contains all the information you need to analyze corporate finances confidently. If you are the type of person who wants to go to the next level on a topic of interest, this is the one.
Linked here.
Conclusion
I started writing this post almost a year ago. I held out publishing it, hoping I would find more personal finance books that would help me expand my list. The only change I made to my original list was the addition of The Psychology of Money, and that was because I purposefully read several books on behavioral finance so that I could choose one.
If you are a medical professional, start with #2 on this list and read down until you complete the list or get bored and want to stop. If you are young and not a medical professional, start with #1. Hopefully, I’ll have something for the average medical professional to read by next year that will blend all these topics into a comprehensive book. If you have an opinion on these books, leave a comment. If you want to support our blog, please subscribe below.
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